Election Day In Thailand

[Jai Dee]

The Minister of Interior says voter turnout of nearly 60 percent is satisfying

The number of people casting their votes in the Sunday election was satisfying with a turnout of nearly 60 percent despite the fact that there is only one major political party contending.

Air Chief Marshal Kongsak Wanthana said the turnout was also generally good in the five southernmost provinces, reflecting public interest in politics. In Trang, he said the turnout is as high as 70 percent. The situation on the day was generally smooth throughout the country.

The Interior Minister said however that only after an announcement of official election results will the Thai Rak Thai Party’s stance be made known. He remarked that a decreasing number of supporting votes for the Party would not affect the government’s stability because the number declined in proportion with the number of rival candidates as most constituencies saw only one party contending.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 03 April 2006

[Jai Dee]

Chart Thai leader reiterates several problems will follow the general election

Chart Thai Party leader Banharn Silpa-archa has expressed willingness to provide advice to caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on national issues but reaffirms his party will not join in the government coalition.

Mr. Banharn indicated that many more problems would follow the election including insufficient votes for elected candidates in constituencies where there was only one party contending. Other problems would involve issuance of red and yellow cards to suspicious candidates. Mr. Banharn commented that those problems would make it impossible for Parliament to convene within 30 days of the election. He particularly pointed to the government and the Prime Minister as responsible agents. According to him, it has been generally accepted that people are currently divided into two political camps at the moment.

The Chart Thai leader reiterated that his Party will not join in the government coalition as speculated by several sides, and it will field candidates in an election within one year when constitutional conditions are favourable for both the government and the opposition.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 03 April 2006

[jdinasia]

Smart move on the Chart Thai leader's part!

[jdinasia]

BritMav's gonna owe me that drink sooner than the end of June methinks

[Thaising]

Election commissioner announced re-election would be carrying out for constituencies receiving fewer than 20% percent. If the re-election result came out the same, setting such a rules I was wondering when the re-election going to end.

[TokyoT]

I don’t quite understand the surprise last night/ this morning, in regard to the election results. TRT has the least support in Bangkok and in the South. They basically lost these areas and should have been prepared for such an outcome. So I am a bit baffled that they appear to have formulated no plan for what I think was an expected outcome. Similar story in regard to the opposition to listen to some of the reports you would think they carry overwhelming support across the nation.

As I see it the results are nothing more or less than what I expected. TRT looses in BKK, and in the south. Yet no one seemed to be prepared for such an outcome?

To read the Headlines of the two main English language papers you would think that things went poorly for TRT nationwide.

The Nation – ‘No Vote Stuns PM’, yes but areas where the no vote carry real numbers appears to be only in the South and in BKK – which should have been expected by both sides.

Bangkok Post – ‘Thaksin Mulls Future’, not near as damning as The Nations headline, but still not a very positive headline considering the results don’t reflect any great surprises IMHO.

[mouse]

I am a guest here and will reserve my political opinion for myself but I If you kill the only the slowest and stupid of the cockroaches, within time the world will be taken over by the fastest and smartest cockroaches you have ever seen that no one will be able to catch or kill them.

What is the difference by someone being at the top and taking a few dollars versus the corruption of earlier years, the drug that were then so readily available, having caused the whole of society within this beautiful nation to have suffered so long.

Under the first option few are hurt, under the second option, my children and yours are in danger of becoming slaves to those making money through the suffereing of others. I hope those days never return.

Nuff said!

[jdinasia]

TRT won most of BKK just one year ago ....

Nakhon Nayok and Chonburi etc...

looks like they lost most of those areas including some of Chiang Mai too ...

The numbers elsewhere are a bit surprising too ... some of the Kanchanaburi constituencies whent way over for "No Vote" and that is where Thaksin made all his crazy promises of Laptops ... free land ... loans for cars and houses etc!

[TokyoT]

I am a guest here and will reserve my political opinion for myself but I If you kill the only the slowest and stupid of the cockroaches, within time the world will be taken over by the fastest and smartest cockroaches you have ever seen that no one will be able to catch or kill them.

What is the difference by someone being at the top and taking a few dollars versus the corruption of earlier years, the drug that were then so readily available, having caused the whole of society within this beautiful nation to have suffered so long.

Under the first option few are hurt, under the second option, my children and yours are in danger of becoming slaves to those making money through the suffereing of others. I hope those days never return.

Nuff said!

Mouse: Why do you say you will hold your tongue and then proceed to use a veiled attempted to tell us your views anyway?

And please don't shout. If you don't like what is being discussed here don't read the thread.

[stumonster]

Nuff said!

who the <deleted> is nuff? and what did he say?

we can all hope for a better deal for the majority of Thais , rather than a select few.

[Thaible]

He still will win in a landslide, and the PAD are still laughable. You hardly need 50% to still be considered a landslide. But I did think it was stupid of him to make that 50% promise.

Huh?

"you hardly need 50% to still be considered a landslide? HUH No ... you don't ... you need 50% plus 1 vote to "Win" .... a landslide takes alot more .... and less well ... it is called losing

A landslide is beating the other parties by a lot, and that TRT has easily done.

Edited April 3, 2006 by Thaible

[TokyoT]

The lack of forward thinking on the part of both sides in the ongoing struggle is very disarming. Similar to the meeting held a couple of weeks ago by the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs attempting to quell concerns of other nations. One of the main concerns other nations have is stability. On this front and in regard to these elections the concern was what happens if some of the seats go unfilled due to the candidate(s) running in certain areas not being able to get at least 20% of the vote. The response the grand Ministry gave the foreign diplomats was “Don’t worry, we have a plan”.

As things unfold it appears none of the parties or agencies involved have any kind of plan what so ever. When things first started rolling I expected the English language papers to provide some detailed in-depth reports on the workings of the Thai political system, and to present some what-if type of scenarios to explain likely outcomes. While they have certainly failed me in not providing the kind of in-depth articles on the workings of the Thai political system that I expected, it appears they may not have done the scenario based articles because no one seems to know what is suppose to happen in all cases.

[jdinasia]

wow Mouse ... you are amazing! First the comment Re keeping your political opinions to yourself and then vomiting them all over us ...

Then an apparent condoning of extra-judicial murders ... (those that were murdered without a trial were the children of someone else too.) But hey .. as long as you are OK with a government having the power to kill whomever they please with no court system etc ... more power to you .... then again ... who were killed? the slow cockroaches? What did their killings accomplish? A power vacuum in the drug trade that was rapidly filled. Who benefitted financially? Are there less drugs or more available on the street now?

A man that could order the extra-judicial murder of up to 2600 people could easily justify the same of opponents if he thought they were a danger to society couldn't he? What about the people that just protest abuses or maybe red-heads?

sometimes it would be wiser to metaphorically take the slow mice out of the gene-pool! ((Always makes me sad to see people condone murder)

Edited April 3, 2006 by jdinasia

[Jai Dee]

Thaksin to talk about election results in the evening

Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said he might make a statement about the election results of the Thai Rak Thai Party in the evening.

Thaksin arrived at Government House at 9:35 am and refused to talk to reporters and rushed to his office on the Thai Kufah Building.

When reporters shouted to ask him when he would make a statement about the election results, Thaksin turned back to smile and flash "I love you" sign and said "in the evening".

Source: The Nation - Breaking News - 3 April 2006

[Jai Dee]

Counting votes - from the Manager Online

[jdinasia]

He still will win in a landslide, and the PAD are still laughable. You hardly need 50% to still be considered a landslide. But I did think it was stupid of him to make that 50% promise.

Huh?

"you hardly need 50% to still be considered a landslide? HUH No ... you don't ... you need 50% plus 1 vote to "Win" .... a landslide takes alot more .... and less well ... it is called losing

A landslide is beating the other parties by a lot, and that TRT has easily done.

again ... huh? there ARE NO OTHER parties here .... winning so many seats that you cannot be censured is a landslide ... 50% +1 vote is a win ... Losing most of the constituencies in places that voted for you 1 year before is an embarassment. If Thaksin thought he won again by a landslide he'd be crowing from the rafters now ... instead ... last night he snuck out without even personally cancelling a press-conference he called

[mouse]

wow Mouse ... you are amazing! First the comment Re keeping your political opinions to yourself and then vomiting them all over us ...

Then an apparent condoning of extra-judicial murders ... (those that were murdered without a trial were the children of someone else too.) But hey .. as long as you are OK with a government having the power to kill whomever they please with no court system etc ... more power to you .... then again ... who were killed? the slow cockroaches? What did their killings accomplish? A power vacuum in the drug trade that was rapidly filled. Who benefitted financially? Are there less drugs or more available on the street now?

A man that could order the extra-judicial murder of up to 2600 people could easily justify the same of opponents if he thought they were a danger to society couldn't he? What about the people that just protest abuses or maybe red-heads?

sometimes it would be wiser to metaphorically take the slow mice out of the gene-pool! ((Always makes me sad to see people condone murder)

You right about not having kept my opinions to myself! Cannot help myself. Have to learn to be a faster and smarter mouse.

Yeah! as far as I am concerned you can also take out the redheads! If they are selling drugs that is!!!! I am sorry but there is no room in my heart for those type of people! They are a part of society that just do not have the right to protection under any law (in my opinion). I am referring to those that deal drugs and cause havoc upon the normal people unable to protect themselves from such action.

Ludicrous isn't it? One one hand we talk about a fair trial for those that you and I know are guilty of a crime against a society and on the other hand socalled Democratic nations readily attack other nations based on nothing less than lies.

I see the present regime in Thailand as the lesser of all evils available, based on the progress of the last few years. I think no one really suffered for the Shinawatra sales that were done and the little bit of pocket stuffing that may have taken place. It happens within every nation, just those are faster mice and they seldom get caught.

[otherstuff1957]

He still will win in a landslide, and the PAD are still laughable. You hardly need 50% to still be considered a landslide. But I did think it was stupid of him to make that 50% promise.

Huh?

"you hardly need 50% to still be considered a landslide? HUH No ... you don't ... you need 50% plus 1 vote to "Win" .... a landslide takes alot more .... and less well ... it is called losing

A landslide is beating the other parties by a lot, and that TRT has easily done.

again ... huh? there ARE NO OTHER parties here .... winning so many seats that you cannot be censured is a landslide ... 50% +1 vote is a win ... Losing most of the constituencies in places that voted for you 1 year before is an embarassment. If Thaksin thought he won again by a landslide he'd be crowing from the rafters now ... instead ... last night he snuck out without even personally cancelling a press-conference he called

I wasn't going to comment on this election, but I just have to say this: How many people think that Thaible works for TRT?

[jdinasia]

again .. Shin isn't the only reason this has happened ... People were rallying against Thaksin before the Shin sale ... and I love your justification for murder ... so suppose your child was involved in that Biz .. just kill him? Or better yet ... suppose your child was just THOUGHT to be involved in the drug trade ... OK to kill him?

This isn't about other places ... this is about Thailand

Edited April 3, 2006 by jdinasia

[Jai Dee]

Jai yen yen people... please settle down and stick to the topic for discussion.

OK?

[sriracha john]

*deleted to preserve the peace*...

Edited April 3, 2006 by sriracha john

[jdinasia]

i thought things have been pretty appropriate recently JaiDee ... am I missing something?

friends in Nakhon Nayok are pretty pleased with the turnout there ... strangely no issue at all with my friends voting "no vote" and many of their friends vting TRT ... they seem to have gotten this as a philosophical thing this time

[sriracha john]

[sriracha john]

i thought things have been pretty appropriate recently JaiDee ... am I missing something?

I didn't know mods can read our posts while we are composing them prior to posting....

I apologize for even "thinking" of posting an addition that took your #2 signature rule too far...

The Mods Are Stronger Than You Can Imagine....

probably why they are such a great bunch of people

[sriracha john]

sooo... back to subject at large...

has anyone seen total votes nation-wide tally??? I haven't seen them all added up to this point.

[Jai Dee]

i thought things have been pretty appropriate recently JaiDee ... am I missing something?

Just trying to keep things on an even keel... before "shit happens"...

Well done BTW SJ...

[jdinasia]

I still think his #2 should be ... There is no rectum there is no shit ... ohmmmmmm~~~

SRJ ... no haven't seen totals yet ..... nor the total of DQ'd ballots

Edited April 3, 2006 by jdinasia

[Rickman]

I still think his #2 should be ... There is no rectum there is no shit ... ohmmmmmm~~~

SRJ ... no haven't seen totals yet ..... nor the total of DQ'd ballots

Could someone please inform me as to where I can find respectable. accurate and timely reporting of the Thai election. I gave up with the Bangkok Post and Nation Multimedia long ago as their reporting is at best mediocre and at worst totally inaccurate. As for timely it seems that this time they have no interest in providing results as they did last year.

Any quality English news reporting in Thailand?

[stumonster]

Man votes in blood as protest

From correspondents in Bangkok

April 03, 2006

A LAW professor pricked his finger with a toothpick to mark his ballot in blood in protest at Thailand's election.

Yossak Kosayanon, who teaches law at a Bangkok university, had to jab his finger several times to draw enough blood to mark his ballot – which was counted as valid, the Bangkok Post reported.

"The toothpick is symbolic," Mr Yossak said.

"The election commission is like a giant with a baton, but refuses to use it to deal with irregularities. Instead, the agency helps those in power pick their teeth," he said.

Mr Yossak said he originally planned to cut his finger with a paper cutter and leave a bloody fingerprint but his wife convinced him that could upset others, the paper reported.

Meanwhile police said they had charged six people with tearing up their ballots in protest, including an 81-year-old man who apparently misheard an election official instruct him to fold the ballot three times.

An election commission official said intentionally destroying ballots carried a penalty of up to a year's jail, 20,000 baht ($US515) fine and a five-year bar from voting.

Mr Thaksin called the polls three years early to quell mass street protests against him in the capital Bangkok.

His ruling Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party is expected to win because strong support remains in the rural areas.

But the opposition have boycotted the polls and some 400 candidates have been disqualified for violations in the nomination process, meaning he may not be able to govern even if he wins.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/commo...55E1702,00.html

SrJ - keep up the good work mate - but stop sucking up to the m0ds....

[sriracha john]

i thought things have been pretty appropriate recently JaiDee ... am I missing something?

Just trying to keep things on an even keel... before "shit happens"...

Well done BTW SJ...

No problem...

I just wasn't aware that at the time of 11:01 (time of your post), things weren't get "too" heated up, but at that time I was composing a post (eventually posted at 11:05 and before I saw your post) that just added a little humorous more fuel on the fire.... which I withdrew it in light of seeing your post after mine was completed and posted... your post prompted me to re-think my post....

the thing was... I was only "thinking" of making my post when you posted...

Now I've read science fiction stories about the future that described "thought police"... just didn't know they were already here.

or maybe it's actually more a case of "conscience police"....